Eat Oysters

Every time we eat a locally grown oyster, we remove nitrogen from the Sound

Oysters are extremely important because they filter nutrients out of the water and convert them into a local protein source or make them available for uptake by other species such as eelgrass.

Here’s how it works

Oysters and other bivalve shellfish are filter feeders. When clams and oysters feed on phytoplankton, they remove nitrogen from the water column and increase light penetration. People contribute vastly more nutrients than most marine systems can handle – mostly in the form of fertilizers and waste products that fuel algae growth and lead to oxygen depletion and clouded waters. Without shellfish in these waters, we would be hard pressed to manage the effects of excess nutrient inputs.

When we harvest clams and oysters we remove nitrogen from the system. Each small oyster contains approximately 0.5 to 1 gram of nitrogen. Each human contributes approximately 10 grams of nitrogen a day (or 3,800 grams a year). Slurping a dozen oysters a day would therefore come very close to mitigating our individual nitrogen contribution for the entire year. Clearly, we’ve got a lot of slurping to do. Lucky for us, there are plenty of locally-grown oysters with which to satisfy both our stomachs and our conscience. (Thanks to Dr. Joth Davis with Baywater, Inc. for assistance with these calculations.)